There's a New Girl In Town
by dancerr1120
Summary: AU - Rachel Berry is the new girl at McKinley High and immediately catches the eye of resident bad boy player Puck. What happens when he starts to pursue her?
1. Chapter 1

**Don't own Glee or anything associated with it, of course.**

**First attempt at Glee fanfic, I hope you like it! It's AU with Rachel being a new student at McKinley...Review please :)  
**

The dreaded sound of his cell phone alarm went off way too early for a Monday morning after a weekend of partying. When Puck realized the reason for his alarm was that he needed to wake up and get to football practice he groaned and started to roll over and put a pillow over his head, but then he realized a very important fact and shot up to a seated position. It was July 15th. The halfway point of summer and two-a-days practices…and the first day of Cheerios tryouts for the following year. A smirk grew across his face as he thought of how much better football practice became when the cheerios started practices.

Puck jumped up and grabbed his phone, turning off the alarm and hunted through his contacts until he found his best friend's number. The phone rang a few times until a groggy sounding Finn answered the phone.

"Dude, what the hell, why are you calling me, I'll see you in like 30 minutes at practice," Finn mumbled, clearly annoyed that Puck had awakened him before his alarm.

"Finn! Its fuckin' July 15th!" Puck practically screamed into his phone.

"Yeah and? Dude I haven't heard you this damn excited since you found out Santana just pretended she was prego last March so you'd date her. The hell is going on?"

Puck groaned in annoyance. "We look forward to this day all summer, dude! Cheerios tryouts! Then the rest of the summer they run around outside in those skimpy outfits and shit."

This got a laugh from his tired friend. "Puckerman, you couldn't be more of a man whore if you tried. I'll see you at practice."

Puck smirked again while he closed his phone and got his football stuff. He wanted to get to practice early so he could strut around "doing badass shit" with the guys. (More like he wanted to strut around and show off for all the cheerio hopefuls who he knew would totally eat it all up.)

Puck pulled into the school parking lot a few seconds after Matt and Mike maneuvered into their parking spots. As soon as Puck saw the two boys climb out of their cars, he noted the look on their faces and knew they were just as excited about the impending view they would have from the practice field for the rest of the summer,

"Well fellas, looks like our two-a-days are about to become a bit more bearable," Matt said and winked at his teammates.

"Fucking bet your ass it will dude," Puck leered at the group of girls already gathering on the track surrounding the field, trying to see if there were any he didn't recognize other than the freshman.

Mike was clearly doing the same thing as he swore and noted that all the "fresh meat were scared looking freshman girls who appeared to have missed their ticket on the puberty train."

"Why don't you guys get a little more obvious?" the boys turned around at the sound of Finn's voice coming up behind them. "You look like a bunch of perverts." However, he joined right in the staring, noting that Quinn, the blonde girl he sort of had a crush on, was there, and though he would swear on his life it was his breakfast rumbling around strangely, felt some butterflies in his stomach.

Puck noticed and his signature smirk creeped across his face. "Dude, Finn, blondie whats-her-fuck is never going to figure out you exist if you don't get your ass in the locker room and put your shit on," he slapped Finn on the shoulder as he and the other guys started heading in to get changed. Never mind that they still had about 30 minutes until practice started and could've gotten away without putting all their gear on yet…but everyone knew they needed to throw the football around and act cool as much as possible before coach started screaming at them during practice now that there were females around.

A few minutes later, the boys emerged from the locker room and swaggered their way toward the field. Puck, Finn, Matt, and Mike walked as close past the girls as possible, and Puck's prediction was correct, heads turned and girls stared. He took a look at the blonde Finn always stared at, and elbowed his friend.

"Your broad's lookin at you," he mumbled out the side of his mouth, causing Finn to turn red.

"Yeah well…Santana the psycho looks just about ready to jump your bones," was his lousy attempt at embarrassing his best friend.

Puck lazily browsed through the crowd of girls until he found the psycho Finn was referring to, seeing that she was more so glaring than anything else in his direction. Santana was still bitter that he hadn't wanted to be tied down to her the year before, and pretending to be pregnant made her even less appealing. He made sure she saw him roll his eyes and look away from her. No way did he want that crazy anywhere near him this year, there was no time to deal with her stage five clinginess and fabricated pregnancies when he planned to play football and party with his buddies all year, and fuck pretty much any chick that would let him, provided she was at least kinda cute once he'd downed a few brewskis. Finn obviously did not want anything to do with this plan as he wanted Scrawny McBlonde-Broad to be his girlfriend. Puck didn't even know what that girl's name was, he never paid attention to her due to that whole best friend shit, though he didn't see why Finn would care anyways, it's not like he would ever want to date the chick.

"Puckerman! Hussle!"

"

Puck heard Coach yelling his name and broke into a jog toward the huddle of guys.

"Well, thank you for joining us Puckerman. The hell, were you puttin' on makeup over there and joining the cheerios tryouts?" Coach reprimanded him and some of the players laughed. "Oh shut up! You're all lookin' like stupid puppy dogs starin' at those girls over there. What, haven't any of you ever seen one?" Coach snorted. "Who am I kiddin'? Look at all you homely idiots, all your heads are shoved so far up your asses there's no way in hell you've ever been around a girl long enough to know how to act in front of one. Now I don't want any of you speakin' to any of those ladies over there…and don't try and 'show off' for 'em, not a one of 'em could give a damn about football and you'll end up making asses of yourselves. Now spread out for warm-ups!"

The guys started spreading across the field for the beginning of practice when Matt shoved Puck's arm.

"Dude…look at that," he said, pointing somewhere behind Puck.

Puck whipped around to see what Matt had been pointing to, and figured it out immediately. Walking towards the Cheerios tryouts in what seemed to be slow motion was probably the sexiest girl Puck had ever laid eyes on. The girl was tiny, but still managed to have legs for days, with long, thick, dark hair billowing down her back and huge brown eyes. She looked around toward the football field, and locked eyes with Puck, causing his breath to hitch in his throat and he felt his mouth drop open. A small hint of a grin on her face let him know she had noticed his reaction to her before she turned away and was immediately bombarded by Finn's blondie.

"Holy fuck me sideways on a park bench, that chick is HOT," Puck said under his breath as he wandered to his warm up spot, the wheels already turning in his head with plans on how to meet this girl and make her his…well, his for like, a night of course, considering he has a reputation to uphold as badass chick magnet…though he couldn't escape the nagging feeling that there was something about that girl that already made him not want to share her, and he didn't even know her name yet…


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews/favorites/etc :) I'm glad to see you all like it! This chapter didnt quite feel like it was amazing but I needed to set up our favorite couple meeting each other. read and review pleeease! **

Rachel Berry woke up promptly at 6 a.m. the morning of July 15th. She took a deep breath as she sat up and looked around her new room in her new house in Lima, Ohio. This was the morning she would make her entry into the high school scene in her new town, at cheerleader tryouts, and she was nervous. She'd been a cheerleader at her old school and all, but she was nervous to meet all the girls and be around the whole football team. What if nobody liked her? She pushed the thought out of her head as she hopped out of bed and into the shower. (What? Just because she was going to go jump around at tryouts and would probably need another shower afterwards doesn't mean she shouldn't arrive looking her best.)

After spending a painstaking amount of time on her hair, outfit, and makeup, Rachel stood in front of her mirror and took in her appearance and deemed it acceptable. She knew she should have some breakfast considering it was the most important meal of the day and all, but she had spent so much time doing everything else that there was only enough time to shout a quick goodbye to her dads (yes, she has two gay fathers who hired a surrogate to have her) and hop in the car to drive to her new school.

Arriving at Mckinley High School, Rachel got out of her car and walked toward where she saw a group of girls standing that she knew had to be the cheerleaders. She looked around, taking it all in, and as she got closer she suddenly felt as if the eyes of every cheerleader and football player on her. She tried not to blush as she realized this was a normal reaction considering she was new to town. Rachel was trying not to let her nervousness show on her face as she looked around at her new classmates when she caught the eye of an extremely attractive male who she assumed to be a football player considering he was standing on the football field in what appeared to be a practice uniform. She was about to blush when she realized she was thinking in run-on sentences, which she always did when she was nervous, when she saw his eyes widen a bit and jaw drop open at the sight of her. She couldn't help the small grin that came across her face and the slight increase in her heart rate as she tore her eyes away from the good looking guy who seemed to (she hoped) have a similar opinion of her. Rachel found herself immediately bombarded by a peppy looking blonde girl.

"Hi! I'm Quinn Fabray! I'm going to be the captain of the cheerios. What's your name?" The blonde asked, having noticed Rachel's good looks (not to mention the response the entire football team seemed to have to her good looks, especially Puck, the one who she knew liked to sleep around as much as he could and that always hung out with Finn Hudson…and of course she hadn't noticed that because she'd been staring at Finn or anything, she was just observant of course).

"Hello, my name is Rachel Berry and I'm new to the town of Lima and McKinley High School. It's lovely to meet you Quinn," Rachel smiled and held out her hand for the other girl to shake.

Quinn smiled at Rachel with an amused look on her face, thinking how this new girl had a bit of a strange way of talking, but she seemed friendly and pretty and would be a good a addition to the cheerios.

"Nice to meet you Rachel! Come with me, I'll introduce you to my best friends Brittany and Santana," Quinn said, grabbing Rachel's arm. Quinn made Rachel stand next to her while learning the tryout routines so she could give her tips and help her make the team. Rachel didn't need much help though; Quinn noticed that Rachel was actually really good, and was not surprised at all that Rachel's was on the list of names of girls who made the team called at the end of tryouts.

"Rachel, I'm so glad you made the team!" Quinn's friend Brittany said as Rachel and her new teammates began to walk away from the field.

"Thank you, so am I! You girls seem wonderful and I cannot wait to get to know everyone even better!" Rachel smiled at the girls who had been so nice to her already, and couldn't help but notice some of the football players were about to cross paths with them, and she felt her heart begin to race yet again as she noticed the guy from earlier was one of them.

"Oh great, here comes the biggest asshole in the entire school," Santana growled at the sight of Puck, who was with Finn, Matt and Mike. Remembering that Rachel was new and didn't know the boys, she added "See the one in the Mohawk? Stay the hell away from him if you value your dignity. Bang n' Bail is definitely his specialty. And then afterwards he feels the need to constantly harass you."

"San, isn't that the one that you told you were preggers with his kid just to tie him down?" Quinn as she and Brittany laughed.

Santana shot them a death glare right as the boys approached them.

"Well hello there ladies, your outfits are looking especially skimpy today," Puck smirked as he enjoyed the sight before him, his eyes falling on Rachel's, making her blush a bit and look away.

"You are such a pervert," Santana snapped, causing Puck's expression to transition from enjoyment at the sight of the girl he was staring at to disgust with what he had just heard as his gaze moved from Rachel to Santana.

"Do you ever just shut the fuck up?" He said to the now livid girl. Santana was just about to open her mouth and yell at him when Finn nudged Puck's arm.

"Dude, shut up, don't cause a scene," he said to his friend, before turning to the girls in front of him and smiling. "Hey guys…how did tryouts go?" Finn nervously smiled at Quinn as he asked.

"Tryouts went well!" Quinn responded, her fair skin turning slightly pink in response to the attention Finn was giving her. "Oh! And this is the newest Cheerio, she's new to town!" Quinn pushed Rachel a bit in front of her. "This is Rachel Berry! Rach, this is Matt, Mike, Finn, and – "

"Call me Puck," Puck pushed the other boys out of the way so he was standing inches from Rachel. He held his hand out for Rachel to take and smirked down at her. She looked down at his extended hand for a moment before taking it.

"Puck?" She said incredulously. "What kind of name is Puck?"

The smirk on his face faltered a bit. Nobody had ever questioned his nickname before, especially not a girl he was trying to hit on, and it threw him off a bit. The girl in front of him raised her eyebrows at him, obviously expecting an answer. Before he could get it together, he heard Finn laugh and felt himself being pushed back so he was no longer standing in front of his friends.

"His name is Noah Puckerman. Everyone has been calling him Puck for so long I guess he must have forgotten his real name," Finn answered Rachel's question and Puck was not happy to see her big brown eyes go from looking at him to looking at his friend and smiling, and even less pleased that Finn made him sound like a stupid meathead. He wasn't as fucking dumb as people thought, and he scowled, as he sure as hell didn't want this girl thinking he was dumb. (Though he couldn't help but wonder why the thought of her thinking he was dumb bothered him so much. She was just his latest conquest after all.)

"Thank you, Finn is it?" Rachel said and Finn nodded. "Well then Noah it is," she said, looking back into Puck's eyes, the hint of a smirk on her face driving him crazy.

"Okay boys, we need to go, we have to get Rachel her new uniform and do some other things," Quinn said, sneaking a glance at Finn, who blushed when the blonde caught him looking at her. Quinn linked her arm through Rachel's and led the girls away as the boys began to walk toward their cars. However, Puck stood planted in the same spot staring at Rachel as she walked away with her new friends, wondering what the hell it was about her that was so intriguing. He shook his head and headed towards his car, thinking about the cold shower he knew he'd have to take when he got home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all your reviews/alerts/favorites yet again :) I'm glad you guys like it so far. This chapter is a bit longer than the last two, I tend to like longer chapters better when I'm reading fics so I'm trying to gradually increase the length of my chapters...and please don't hate me but there isn't any direct Puckleberry interaction in it BUUUUT I hope it does a good job of setting up some good Puckleberry interaction in the next chapter! I was originally planning on combining my idea for this chapter and the next into one chapter but I felt I reached a good place for a chapter to end. Also, Coastiewife465, your review inspired me to make Santana a bigger part of the story and more of an antagonist than I had originally planned...and I love it more this way, so thank you!  
**

**And in case anyone else was confused that i began the story set in July, I figured since high school kids on sports teams/cheerleaders usually start practices and stuff in the summer, and Puck is on football and Rachel a Cheerio, it would make more sense that they would meet in the summer before actual school starts :)**

**aaaand of course, don't own anything. Read and Review please! Hope you like it!  
**

After the girls picked up their uniforms, they headed back toward their cars. Rachel looked down at her new cheerios uniform and couldn't help but smile. As the girls approached their cars, Rachel opened her mouth to say goodbye, but before she could talk Quinn grabbed her arm again.

"Rach, you're coming over in an hour and we're going to hang out and have a girls day. San and Britt will be there too. And don't even think about saying no!" Quinn smiled at Rachel.

"Well I suppose since I have no plans in my current schedule a day of hanging out with the girls would fit right in!" Rachel replied, and then smiled nervously as she realized that she had begun to use her trademark run-on sentences. Quinn seemed not to notice, or at least not to be annoyed by Rachel's roundabout way of speaking as the smile on her face didn't falter. Quinn gave Rachel her address, and the girls went their separate ways. Rachel had just reached her car when she looked up and noticed Puck trailing behind the other boys she'd met as he headed towards his own vehicle…that she promptly noticed was a truck and tried to push the thought of how sexy she found it when boys drove trucks out of her head.

"Santana said he's a total imbecile and he clearly proved her to be correct in his tactless method of introducing himself. So take a deep breath and stop thinking about it," Rachel muttered to herself as she got in her car and started the ignition.

A bit later, Rachel found herself sitting in Quinn's room with the three girls she'd met that morning. Brittany was flipping through a celebrity gossip magazine and kept yelling out whatever she felt was interesting. The other girls didn't have the heart to tell her it was pretty old news that Sandra Bullock's husband cheated on her when she cried out in shock and began to read the article as if her life depended on it. Santana sat Quinn's desk and it looked like she was checking out her facebook page. (She obviously had to check out the recent activity on Puck's facebook page too, you know, to make sure any new girls fawning all over him weren't competition. She was convinced his outward disdain towards her was just hiding the fact that he must actually really like her, right?)

"So, Rachel, where did you move from?" Quinn asked, taking a seat on her bed next to the new girl.

Rachel felt a slight blush tinge her cheeks, and she knew she'd have to tell the girls about her two dads, which of course she wasn't embarrassed about, she just knew some people didn't react too well to the news, and she prayed her new friends wouldn't think she was weird upon hearing the new piece of information about her.

"Well…" Rachel started nervously, "I lived in a suburb of Chicago my whole life…and then one of my dads got transferred to Lima due to his job."

"Dads?" Brittany looked up from her magazine quizzically.

Rachel blushed harder. "Yeah…I know that this sounds quite strange but I have two gay fathers. They had always desired to have a child of their own so they located a surrogate mother to carry me," Rachel looked up, expecting horrified looks on their faces, but Santana remained engrossed in her facebook stalking while Quinn and Brittany just looked a bit shocked, but there was none of the disgust Rachel had been expecting.

"Oh. That's actually kind of cool. So I'm assuming you were a cheerleader at your old high school?" Rachel was relieved that Quinn quickly changed the subject, and Rachel nodded.

"Did you have a boyfriend at your old school?" Brittany asked, having lost interest in the Sandra drama.

"Actually, yes I did. I liked him very much, and we had been dating for quite some time…though we both came to the decision that it would be best to end our relationship considering the great distance my move to Lima put between us," Rachel answered and her mind wandered off to her former boyfriend. They had just broken up a few days before her move so it was still pretty fresh in her mind, but Quinn's next words snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Well good thing you aren't tied down, I don't think Puck would like that too much based on his reaction to meeting you this morning," Quinn said, and her and Brittany exchanged a knowing look.

"Yeah Rach, Puck totally likes you. The way he was staring at you was like the way my fat little brother stares at cake," Brittany was proud of her metaphor. Rachel was about to object at the idea of being stared at as if she was an edible snack but didn't get the chance to due to Santana's outburst at Quinn and Brittany's words.

"What are you two talking about?" Santana immediately abandoned her facebook stalking and spun around. "No way does Puck like her, he was totally just being an asshole. Probably to make me jealous because Rachel is on the cheerios now and one of my friends." Though she sounded confident, Santana looked more like she was trying to convince herself than the others.

Rachel looked down at her hands. She was speechless, for once in her life. Luckily, Quinn spoke first.

"Uh, San, what do you care? You always claim you hate Puck," Quinn gave the fuming girl a curious stare.

"Of course I hate Puck," Santana said quickly, in attempt to conceal her jealousy at the thought of Puck liking this new girl…though Santana did have to admit Rachel was gorgeous and she hadn't failed to notice the way Puck stared at her earlier that morning. "I was just saying that Puck seems to like to hit on other girls in front of me so it must be because he is trying to make me jealous."

"Um, Santana, I think Puck does that so you don't talk to him. Matt told me he hates you," Brittany said nonchalantly as she found a new magazine to flip through. Santana was not pleased.

"Like you and Matt know anything about anything, you probably have about 1 brain cell between the two of you!" Santana jumped out of her chair and yelled at Brittany. "I have to go." She grabbed her things and stormed out of Quinn's room, leaving the three remaining girls a bit confused.

"Well THAT was strange," Quinn shook her head. "And Britt, don't listen to her, you aren't stupid."

"No, it's okay, I guess I kinda am," Brittany shrugged. "But it doesn't take someone smart to tell that Puck can't stand Santana."

"I'm so sorry…I hope I did not anger Santana too much or cause any animosity between the three of you!" Rachel said nervously. "She is very welcome to have this Noah – er – Puck character all to herself."

"Oh, Rach, it's not your fault! Santana is delusional. She's convinced Puck is secretly in love with her but he actually hates her. Finn says that Puck said he's never met a girl crazier than her," Quinn assured her. Rachel was glad she had mentioned Finn, eager to find a way to change the subject from Puck's alleged feelings for her. She'd only met him for a few seconds, he couldn't possibly like her…right?

"So Finn surely seemed to quite enjoy your presence, Quinn! It seems as if you like him as well, that is exciting!" Rachel smiled at Quinn, causing the blonde to turn red.

"Well…I have always had a bit of a crush on Finn. I guess he is finally starting to notice me!" Quinn looked excited. "But really, Rach, Puck totally has a crush on you. What did you think of him?" Rachel sighed at Quinn's persistence.

"I don't know. I mean, I really was only introduced to him for a few moments before we parted ways, and that is really not quite enough time to develop an opinion about another individual," Rachel said without making eye contact with the other girls. Quinn and Brittany exchanged another glance.

"I think that means you think he's cute," Brittany said, and it was Rachel's turn to blush.

"Well I suppose he does happen to be good looking, though he seems to have a pompous personality which is extremely off-putting," Rachel responded.

"I thought you hadn't spent enough time with him to develop an opinion," Quinn lightheartedly teased Rachel, causing her to become even more flustered. Luckily she was saved by the sound of the latest Ke$ha song coming from Quinns phone. The blonde picked up her cell and smiled. Brittany and Rachel figured it must be a text from Finn, and they were right.

"Hey guys, Finn just texted me and said he's having a party later tonight!" The other girls could tell Quinn was really excited about the party.

"Oh my gosh, Quinn! Do you think there is a possibility Finn may ask you on a date at this party he is hosting this evening?" Rachel was not only excited for a respite from talking about Puck, but genuinely excited for her new friend.

"I doubt it…he'll probably be much to busy talking to everyone else to spend too much time with me tonight," Quinn answered, though she did hope Finn was able to hang out with her that night.

"Oh my God. This is Rachel's first party with everyone from McKinley. I think this means we need to go shopping!" Brittany jumped up excitedly. Shopping was probably her favorite pastime besides the cheerios, and she couldn't wait to help Rachel get ready for her first night out in Lima. As the girls piled in Quinn's car and headed to the mall, Rachel found her mind wandering towards thoughts of the boy she'd met earlier that day, and couldn't help the butterflies that began to fly around in her stomach as she thought about possibly seeing him later.

* * *

Santana ran out of Quinn's house as fast as humanly possible. She had never been so angry at her two best friends.

"The hell do they think they are," she muttered as she got in her car. "It's not like they know anything about my relationship with Puck."

She started to drive towards her house, but then had a better idea. She made a quick turn when she changed her mind and a few minutes later she found herself in front of Puck's house. What was she doing at the house of her "ex-boyfriend" who disliked her more than anyone else in the entire state of Ohio? She was going to set him straight about this new girl Rachel Berry of course.

Unfortunately for him, Puck was home, sitting in his living room watching ESPN. His mom and little sister were going to be gone all weekend for another one of his sister's dance competitions or at least that's what Puck remembered hearing his mother tell him when they were running out the door Friday night. He heard a knock on his door and groaned, wondering who in the fuck was knocking on his door on a Monday morning. While he was trying to watch his sports, no less.

"Whatever the shit is your trying to pawn off I don't fucking want any," he started to say as he opened the door, thinking it was some sort of solicitor. When he saw a very angry Santana standing before him he groaned and started to close his door again. "Ugh, I wouldn't have even answered the god damn door if I knew fucking Frankenstein would be on the other side of it."

But Santana was quick, and she grabbed the door before he was able to slam it in her face and stepped inside.

"Shut up, Puckerman. We have something very important to talk about!" Santana practically screamed in his face.

"The fuck would you think I'd want to speak to you for?" Puck left Santana standing by the door and grabbed a beer out of his fridge. Yeah, yeah, its not even noon but come on. He'd need a few beers before talking to this damn nutcase would be bearable. "What are you pregnant with an invisible fucking kid again?"

"Ugh, no! You are such a disgusting pig, who drinks beer before noon?" She wrinkled her nose at the bottle in his hand.

"Well, Satan, when psychotic nutfucks come knocking on my door and trespass into my house before noon, what would you expect?" Puck snapped at her, a smirk spreading across his face when he noticed his words made her even angrier.

"Wipe that STUPID smirk off your face, nobody finds it attractive. And will you stop calling me Satan?," She attempted to bite back. Puck simply raised his eyebrows and took another swig from the bottle. God, he really didn't want to deal with her bullshit.

"Are you going to stand there and stare at me or tell me why it is your standing in my kitchen?" Puck was actually kind of curious what the point of her visit was.

"I came here to talk to you about this Rachel Berry," Santana said and Puck tried to keep his cool as his heart began to race at the mention of her. He started picturing her long chestnut hair and giant doe eyes and even that sexy smirk she got on her face when she saw him staring at her but was jolted out of his fantasy by Santana's next words. "I just wanted to say that she thinks you're an imbecile and a creep and has a boyfriend from home. So you should probably stay away from her."

"Oh yeah, and why the fuck did you come all the way to my house to tell me this?" Puck tried to hide the fact that hearing those words caused a fit of rage to streak through his body.

"Just trying to be a good friend," Santana said in what she thought was a seductive voice as she took a step closer to Puck. "You know how much we care about each other."

"Your delusional," Puck said as he began to push Santana to the front door as hard as he could without actually hurting her. (Hey now, just because he's a badass doesn't mean he'd hurt a chick…even one as insane and annoying as this one.) "Now run along and try to get some other idiot to fall for your shit. No way in hell am I ever dealing with you again."

"But Puck – " Santana started, but Puck never heard the rest of her sentence because he slammed the door before she could finish. He didn't want the news Santana had brought to affect him so much or make him so angry but he couldn't help it. Boyfriend? No way. Who moves to a new town and stays with their boyfriend? Nobody. There was no way she had a boyfriend…she was totally flirting with him after practice that morning too…Puck was again jolted out of his thoughts but this time it was by his phone ringing and informing him that he had a text message. He dug it out of his pocket and opened it.

**Finn** – Dude, party at my house tonight. Invited Quinn, bet she'll bring Rachel ;)

Puck snapped his phone shut and grinned. Perfect. He was assuming Quinn was that blonde Finn was staring at (since he never actually went after her, he had trouble remembering her name) and by the way she was acting earlier, there was no way she'd show up at that party without Rachel.

"Well, Berry. Boyfriend or not, your going home with me tonight," Puck said to himself and settled down to watch more TV. He didn't know what it was about this Rachel chick that made him so damn crazy, but he knew he didn't want anyone else fucking touching her. He pushed the thought that he never gave two shits about who else touched all his other conquests before or after he did out of his head, and tried to concentrate on the baseball game in front of him.


	4. Chapter 4

**I am SOOO sorry it took me so incredibly long to update...I just for some reason had SUCH a hard time writing this chapter...I wanted it to be good and kept not liking what I'd written and rewriting tiny things. But here it is! I really hope you all like it, its not necessarily my favorite thing I've ever written but I tried really hard to make it good/in character! Let me know what you think! And thank you for all the reviews and favorites and stuff! Def appreciate it a lot :) But anyways...i really hope you enjoy and I will definitely update much sooner in the future! I have some ideas floating around in my head about where to go from here that hopefully will be easier to write...okay done rambling :) **

Puck showed up at Finn's house a few hours before the party was supposed to start so they could hang out and do "you know, guy shit" (as Puck told his mother on the phone earlier that day when she'd called to say her and Puck's sister weren't going to be getting back until Tuesday. Yeah, he talks to him mom on the phone when she's out of town, but that totally doesn't make him any less of a badass). Puck was really hoping Finn would somehow be able to distract him from his thoughts of the new girl constantly running through his head. He'd barely even been able to watch the baseball game on TV, and NOTHING got between Puck and his sports. Well…at least nothing used to. Plus, he wanted to get a few beers in his system before everyone showed up. He would never admit it to anyone, because Puck definitely did not need liquid courage to hit on girls, but he suspected he would need some before talking to this girl. She actually called him out on his bullshit (and girls did NOT call Puck out on his bullshit) and he had to make sure she couldn't tell that it actually made him crazy.

"Finn! What up dude! Where's the fuckin' beer?" Puck yelled as soon as he walked into his friend's house.

"Puck, man, be a little quieter," Finn punched Puck's shoulder. "My mom isn't gone yet and it's not like I told her I'm having a party here tonight."

"Where is good old Carole heading tonight?" Puck inquired as he plopped onto a couch in Finn's living room.

"Some family reunion thing with all her cousins. I got out of going because of football. Can you imagine what Coach would say if I asked to be excused from two days of practice for a family reunion at practice today?" Finn responded, making Puck laugh.

"He probably would have told you to leave right then so you could pick out a nice dress and some matching heels," Puck joked, and it was Finn's turn to laugh. "But really, when is your mom leaving?"

"Dude, I know you like to drink, but it's not even dark out yet. What's got your panties in a twist?" Finn could tell something was up, even though Puck probably drank more than most people he knew he usually wasn't this anxious to get some liquor in his system.

Puck sighed and realized he could fool most people, but apparently not his best friend…but he could keep trying.

"Nothing, man. Just had a stressful morning. Satan barged into my house uninvited and started yelling at me. There's no way I can deal with her sober later," Puck sort of lied…yes, Santana had come over and yelled at him and no he didn't want to deal with her (or look at her for that matter) later but that wasn't why he was acting weirdly. Finn gave him a strange look after hearing his answer.

"More like that new chick Rachel got in your head when she didn't fall over groveling at your feet when you had to act like an idiot in front of her," Finn knew he'd hit the nail on the head when he saw Puck's jawline harden and noticed his face turning a bit red. "Doesn't help too much that she's gorgeous," Finn continued to tease his friend.

"Yeah, she's hot, whatever," Puck tried to be nonchalant, and was saved from further pretending when Finn's mother came in the room.

"Oh, hi there Puck, Finn didn't tell me you were coming over!" she said, smiling at her son's friend. Before Puck could say anything, she continued. "Well, I'm heading out. Finn, I'll be back in a few days. Behave yourself, no wild parties!" She yelled as she shut the front door. Puck raised his eyebrows.

"Well, she was in a hurry. Okay let's get this shit started," Puck stood up. Finn laughed again.

"Dude, it's still only 6 p.m. if you start now you'll be plastered by the time everyone gets here."

"I don't see a problem with that…" Puck grumbled, but sat back down next to Finn. "But there's no way I'm not going to be a few drinks in when all these assholes you invited start getting here."

Finn rolled his eyes and flipped the TV on, suddenly much more interested to see how Puck would act later that night.

Rachel found herself back in Quinn's room surrounded by bags after their shopping trip. None of the girls could decide what they wanted to wear that night while they were actually at the mall, opting instead to just buy everything they liked and decide later. Quinn's room started to look much like the mall once the three girls began to try everything on.

"Can we just like, not wear clothes?" Brittany already had on outfit choice number four.

"Well I can only imagine how much Finn would certainly enjoy such a sight if we decided to do such a thing," Rachel grinned as Quinn turned red.

"I bet he wouldn't enjoy it as much as Puck would," Quinn lightheartedly snapped back, causing Rachel to blush and look down at her feet, regretting having brought up the subject.

"Well if this Puck is actually anything like Santana has made him out to be, he would probably enjoy the sight of any member of the female sex provided that she was lacking clothing," Rachel busied herself by searching through her newly purchased clothing.

"He probably would…but not as much as he would if it was you," Brittany walked over to Rachel and gave her a teasing nudge in the arm. "And I vote you wear that." Brittany pointed at the most skimpy outfit Rachel had gotten at the mall earlier. Rachel looked down at the tiny little dress Brittany had pointed to and groaned. She had only gotten that one because the other girls insisted and had planned on returning it the next day.

"Don't you think that's a bit…excessive…for a simple gathering at someone's house?" Rachel made a futile attempt at avoiding having to wear this dress…if you could even call it a dress…though she knew the girls would somehow have their way.

Quinn turned around from her spot in front of the mirror where she was playing with her hair.

"Rachel, absolutely not, you will look really hot in that dress and you clearly need to look hot when we introduce you to the rest of the people from school," Quinn said as if it was the most logical thing in the world. "Now put the sexy dress on and for the love of God lets get Brittany dressed!"

"But I have so many options! I just can't decide!" Rachel and Quinn laughed at how childish Brittany sounded.

"Well if I am being coerced into wearing the smallest piece of fabric ever sold in the entire state of Ohio, then I demand that you wear that dress," Rachel pointed to a tiny dress that was similar to the one Rachel would be wearing. Brittany shrugged.

"'Kay, I like that one the best anyway," she said, her indecision of a few moments ago forgotten, causing the other girls to laugh yet again.

"Well, now that we've prevented that disaster, we need to finish getting ready! It's already almost nine, we wouldn't want Finn to think we're ditching his party so we shouldn't show up too late!" Quinn smiled nervously as she continued to fix her hair in front of the mirror.

"Or you are hoping to arrive early at Finn's residence as to avoid being disappointed if another girl has already attached herself to his side by the time we make our entrance," Rachel teased the blonde girl who was suddenly obsessed with the perfect hairstyle. Quinn's small smile proved that Rachel was correct.

"Well, if only Finn would look at me how Puck looked at you earlier, I'd know I didn't' have anything to worry about," Quinn teased right back, bringing Rachel's mind back to the buff football player who she'd been trying to push out of her mind, and suddenly she hoped their entrance would be fashionably late…or even unfashionably late – there was no way she could sit around and make small talk with this Puck guy if they were one of the first to arrive, and the later they got there she figured the more easily she would be able to avoid him. Rachel sighed as she focused on getting ready. Puck could infiltrate his way into her thoughts all he wanted, but she'd be damned if that got in the way of her looking good for her first party in her new town.

True to his word earlier, Puck had already downed a few drinks before people started arriving at Finn's house. As they expected, the first guests were the guys from the football team, but soon enough girls and other people started to arrive as well. Puck grabbed another beer after he'd finished his last one shotgunning with a few guys from the hockey team and looked around. There was no sign of the brunette that had been running through his head since he saw her that morning, but he didn't see that chick Finn liked around either so he figured they were just doing chick things and were going to be late. He was about to mentally slap himself for caring so much whether some girl he barely knew was going to show up at a party when he felt an elbow in his side.

"Dude, you're watching the door like a lost puppy," Finn teased as he stood by his friend.

"Like you're not doing the same damn thing," Puck shot back, which shut Finn up for a moment considering he too had been looking around for a certain blonde female.

"At least I admit to it," Finn said, and it was Puck's turn to shut his mouth. Yeah, maybe he was searching through the crowd for Rachel but fuck if he'd ever actually admit that to anyone. "But anyways, they are coming, Quinn texted me saying something about taking really long getting ready."

"Broads are fucking slow, man," Puck tried to ignore those stupid butterflies that started racing around his stomach in reaction to what Finn just said. "Hopefully they don't bring that dumb bitch Santana with them, I'm not in the mood for more bullshit from her today."

"Dude…I think you spoke too soon…" Puck followed Finn's wide-eyed gaze to none other than Santana, and she was headed straight for them.

"Oh, fuck me hard," Puck muttered and tried to get away before she spotted him, but realized he was too late when he felt a hand grab his arm and nails dig into his skin. He whipped around and pulled his arm out of her grasp. "Shit, Satan, what the fuck are you even doing here?"

"Uh, I was INVITED. I am a Cheerio you idiot," Santana put her hands on her hips and gave Puck her best death stare.

"Yeah well its my best friend's house, I'm uninviting you. Now seriously leave me the fuck alone you psycho," Puck turned and walked away as fast as he could before she could even open her mouth again. Ugh, great, now he had to be on the lookout to avoid her the rest of the night. He was thinking about asking Finn if there was any hard liquor so that he could pound back a few shots seeing as his encounter with Santana had annoyed him enough he practically felt sober when he heard a voice from across the room.

"…and this is Dave Karofsky, they're all hockey players. Guys, this is Rachel, she's new and she just joined the Cheerios this morning," Quinn, Rachel, and Brittany had just entered and Rachel was getting introduced to everyone. Upon hearing Rachel's name, Puck casually headed towards the direction of the voice he'd heard. When she came into his view, he saw that she was wearing probably the hottest dress he had ever seen on anyone in his life…well, come to think of it, he couldn't remember ever paying attention to what other chicks were wearing before he woo-ed them and fucked their brains out…but God Damnit this girl was different, and those damn butterflies started up again. He stood for a second watching Rachel and her new friends talk and laugh with Dave and some other jocks until he realized he was not only being a bit creepy, but acting as if his balls hadn't dropped yet by standing around staring. He was Puck, one of his best talents was winning over chicks at parties. He decided he was done standing around, and sauntered over to where they were standing, coming up between Rachel and Quinn and dramatically draping his arms over their shoulders.

"Oh…hey Puck," Quinn said and perked up a bit, figuring that now that Puck had appeared, Finn must not be far away. Rachel remained silent, her muscles immediately tensing up when she realized the arm around her shoulders belonged to none other than Puck.

"'Sup, ladies. Gentlemen, I figured I'd come over and teach you bozos how to talk to women," Puck smirked as he tried to joke and be cool when he was really aware of how his arm felt around Rachel's shoulders, having noticed her reaction to it being there.

"Whatever dude, everyone knows your tactic with the ladies is feeding them beer until they think you're attractive," one of the guys joked, making everyone laugh.

"Aww, come on, that's not true! Chicks love the Puck! See, Rachel here just walked in and is probably still totally sober and I bet she thinks I'm attractive," Puck turned his head to look down at her while moving his thumb along her shoulder blade. She tensed up even more when she felt his hand moving and her eyes got even bigger. She looked at him and their eyes met for the first time that night, rendering Puck speechless and actually causing the smirk he seemed to have permanently glued on his face to falter a bit.

"I, uh – um –" There was no way Rachel could form words let alone a coherent sentence with him staring at her like that. Luckily, Quinn picked up on her distress.

"She's probably trying to figure out how to politely disagree with you. But we better be off, I have tons more people to introduce Rachel to," Quinn said as she went over and grabbed Rachel's hand, the sound of her voice knocking both Puck and Rachel out of their thoughts and causing Rachel to tear her eyes away from Puck's. She turned to Quinn and gave the girl a grateful smile.

"Lovely meeting all of you!" Rachel called to the boys she had just met as Quinn pulled her away. The boys all watched them walk away for a moment, then Karofsky opened his mouth.

"Damn, that new chick is fucking hot. Gotta get me some of that before the end of the summer," he said, causing Puck's head to snap around.

"Touch her and I'll shove my foot so far up your ass it'll come out your fucking mouth," Puck glared at him, surprising Karofsky and the other guys a bit. Puck never gave a shit if some other guy liked a girl he wanted…

"The hell dude, I'm just saying she's hot…what, is she your new girlfriend or something?" Karofsky teased Puck, knowing it would piss him off more. "Oh right, you don't keep a girl around long enough for a second fuck let alone a girlfriend."

Puck clenched his fists and thought about shoving one into the annoying hockey players' face, but decided against it considering he didn't want to turn the entire hockey team against him…well and Rachel doesn't seem like the kind of girl who would appreciate him punching a guy in the face for saying he wanted to get with her…but who really cares about that, right?

"Whatever, dude," Puck walked away, running into Matt a few seconds later.

"Hey, man, whats's up?" Matt nodded at Puck when he saw him. "Dude, you look pissed, what happened?"

"Nothing, hockey guys being dumbfucks again," Puck shook his head. "Hey, lets go get a drink."

Rachel had been sneaking glances around the party while Quinn introduced her to tons of people whose names she'd never remember, and saw Puck and Matt talking from across the room. She shook her head and tried to focus on the few people talking to her and her friends. Stupid Puck, having to totally ruin her plans of avoiding him and practically harass her the minute she walked in the door. Rachel was snapped out of her thoughts by a familiar voice.

"Hey Quinn. Britt, Rach," Santana came up to join them with what Rachel thought looked like a big, fake smile on her face. Quinn smiled at her, but Brittany, seeing as the world "subtle" was not in her vocabulary, rolled her eyes at the sight of the girl.

"Hello Santana, it is so nice to see you, how are you doing this evening?" Rachel spoke up when nobody else did, not wanting to be rude to the girl, especially because of the stronghold Santana seemed to think she had on Puck…well, not that she would care, of course, but Quinn and Brittany had made her pretty angry earlier by mentioning the idea of Puck liking Rachel. Which, obviously, she knew totally wasn't true.

"Oh, I'm just fine!" Santana started off, her overly excited tone causing Quinn and Brittany to exchange a glance. "I just really need to get a few more drinks in me, Puck keeps insisting on fighting with me for no reason, its soooo stressful!"

"Santana, didn't we tell you earlier than Puck hates you?" Brittany said innocently, with a look of genuine confusion on her face. Santana's smile disappeared and she shot Brittany a death stare.

"And didn't I tell you earlier that you're stupid?" she said coolly, narrowing her eyes at Brittany. "Because I should have said that not only are you stupid – "

"Well, Santana, so nice chatting with you, but we have to go introduce Rachel to some more people, see you later!" Quinn saved the day yet again, dragging Brittany and Rachel away from Santana. "Ugh, she is way delusional."

"Oh, I know! I mean, doesn't she realize that I don't care when she calls me stupid? But she keeps doing it as if it's going to one time finally piss me off!" Brittany shook her head and Quinn laughed.

"Acutally, Britt, I meant she's delusional when she keeps talking about Puck, but that's true too," Quinn loved Brittany's airhead moments. "How about we go get some drinks? Rachel? You're pretty quiet, how about we get some liquor in you to loosen you up a bit?" Quinn teased her new friend.

"That sounds absolutely wonderful!" Rachel was eager for anything to distract herself from thinking of Puck, and having a few drinks with Quinn and Brittany would be a perfect way to do so. Rachel was too busy deciding what she wanted to drink to notice that the boy she was trying to get out of her head was staring at her from where he was standing with Finn, Matt, and Mike across the room.

"Dude, Finn, your mom should go out of town more often," Mike said to Finn, who was trying not to stare at Quinn since she entered the room with Brittany and Rachel.

"Yeah, too bad she's usually too worried that I'll like, starve to death or something without her. Puck, your ma goes away all the time for your sisters shit, we should start bugging you to have more parties!" Finn joked, and the three guys looked expectantly at Puck, waiting for him to retort back, but saw that he clearly hadn't been paying any attention and was distracted staring off in the distance. Finn figured he was staring at Rachel again (okay, okay, his whole trying not to stare at Quinn thing hadn't been working out so well and he knew that Rachel happened to be standing next to Quinn in the exact spot where Puck was staring.) "Uh, Puck?" Finn punched him on the shoulder, knocking him out of his distraction.

"Oh, uh, what's up dude?" Puck said, making the guys laugh when they realized he hadn't heard a word they had been saying.

"What's wrong with you tonight? You're in your own world right now dude," Matt asked his suddenly spacey friend.

"Shit, sorry. I guess I'm just tired. What did you say before Finn?" He responded, still slightly distracted.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Not important. Anyways, practice tomorrow is really going to suck after all this drinking," Finn caused his friends to groan at the mention of the football practice they had in not so many hours. Puck's mind again began to wander and he found himself staring across the room again at Rachel and those other chicks. Damn, she was hot. He watched her take a shot with Quinn after raising their shot glasses in the air and toasting to something that apparently was pretty funny because they immediately burst out laughing. Probably some stupid girl crap that wasn't even funny but Puck didn't really give a shit, she looked even hotter when she was laughing. He saw her put her glass down and ask Quinn a question, and Puck noticed that Quinn pointed in the direction of the bathroom while she responded, and watched Rachel walk in that direction. Shit, she was actually going to be by herself for about 30 seconds without those other chicks obsessing over her. Before he knew what he was doing, Puck began to walk in the same direction as Rachel. Damn, this was probably really creepy, basically stalking this girl he barely knew while she went to the bathroom, but whatever. His heart was pounding as he tried to casually wait outside the door as if he was just waiting to use the bathroom next…nobody else at the party could actually see him standing there, but he could at least try to convince himself he wasn't being a fucking psycho. Holy goddamned shit, this chick takes long in the bathroom…Puck was about to give up when he heard the door start to open. He stood right in front of it as the brunette girl started to exit, flipping her hair over her shoulder and examining something on one of her hands so she ran right into Puck's chest, shrieking a bit and grabbing at him to keep her balance. He grabbed her around the waist to keep her from falling over.

"Oh, wow, I'm just so incredibly clumsy in these death traps some call heels I apologize for – " Rachel was unable to finish her sentence when she finally realized who had stopped her from collapsing on the floor. She was suddenly more aware of the hands around her waist and couldn't seem to formulate words with his eyes locked on hers. "Oh, uh, hi Noah…" Rachel said when he remained silent and immediately felt stupid for stumbling over her words.

"Hi," was all Puck managed to say back to her as he continued to stare at her, not even bothering to get annoyed that she called him Noah. Fuck, since when did some chick make him speechless? Now she probably thought that not only he was a dumbshit but that he sucked at picking up girls too.

Rachel fidgeted a bit under his grasp, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with the way he was looking at her and needing to get away from him before anything else could happen and before her heart rate shot up so much that she had a heart attack in his arms. That would certainly be quite the awkward situation.

"Okay, well, lovely to run into you again Noah, but I really must be going, Quinn and Brittany are probably waiting for me," Rachel flashed him her best attempt at a casual smile and started to push away but before she knew what was happening and Puck knew what he was doing, he'd stopped her from moving away from him and pressed his lips to hers. Shocked at first, Rachel felt her heart beating at that heart attack pace she'd been trying to avoid but she couldn't help but let him continue to kiss her. Not wanting to let her run off, Puck tightened one arm around her waist and tangled the other one in her hair. He felt her body relax against his and started to think maybe she didn't find him to be a total idiot when all of a sudden she stiffened again and abruptly pulled away from him. He looked down at her with confusion in his eyes.

"I can't do this. We can't do this, we barely know each other, we've been drinking…it's just – not a good idea," Rachel tried again to pull out of his grip and this time he let her. He stood there staring at her as she spoke, willing himself to say something to her but, again, nothing came out, and she started to walk away. "I'm sorry…I'll see you later," she called out as she continued to walk to where she had left her friends, leaving a confused (not to mention pretty intoxicated) Puck staring in her direction wondering what the fuck had just happened not to mention why the fuck he cared so much that she'd rejected him.


	5. Chapter 5

**wow, I will not even pretend that I dont SUCK at story writing...during the school year i barely have time to read and write everything for my classes let alone write this stuff...hopefully you guys will still read this :) We find out a little about the guy from Rachel's hometown she left when she moved here and had to add a little of Santana for some comic relief of course. Read and Review my loves!**

She'd been avoiding him. He knew it, he fucking knew it, and that girl was damn good at avoiding. It was now almost a month after he'd kissed her and she ran away, and she hadn't allowed herself to be around him for more than a few seconds, and that was only when she was forced to be near him during cheerio and football practice. She'd even perfected the art of ignoring him when they were at the same social event, which was not an infrequent occurrence considering she was a cheerio and he a football player. Normally Puck would never wait around for some stupid chick to talk to him, he was a fucking badass stud and could bed any girl he wanted…well, almost any girl…but he wasn't one of those guys that liked that thrill of the chase bullshit. For some reason this Rachel chick was constantly on his mind and it really pissed the shit out of him. It was obviously only because she was the hot new girl and he wanted to be the first to bang her. And the reason he hadn't even so much as thought of touching another chick since he first saw her of course had nothing to do with her – he was just tired from constant football practice and didn't want to deal with stupid girl drama shit. But he was seriously sick of being ignored and avoided. He'd almost been able to run into her when he was coming out to the field from the locker room earlier in the morning, but she was yet again able to dodge him. God damnit, enough is enough, he thought as he tried not to get too distracted by her scantily clad body prancing around practicing all those gay cheers, and decided he was going to make her talk to him after practice that morning if it was the last thing he did.

Puck caught a lucky break, football practice was done before cheerios practice that day – the cheerios coach was an intense blonde woman whose entire wardrobe seemed to consist of various colored track suits and she apparently felt like yelling at the girls quite a bit longer than usual. Puck came out of the locker room and went over to Rachel's parked car and tried to inconspicuously wait there. He knew he'd catch her there alone because she always walked with the other girls to Quinn's car before heading to her own. What? She's hot and he watched her sometimes and figured it out…totally didn't make him desperate or mean that he likes her or something.

"Okay, sounds good, I'll see you two in a few hours!" Puck heard her voice before he saw her approaching her car. She was digging through her purse for her keys and didn't see Puck at first, which was fine with him because it meant more time for him to pray that he didn't make a total fool of myself. Rachel finally looked up, and the look of relief that had been on her face from finally locating her car keys turned into shock and uneasiness.

"Noah…" she began, her heart reminding her of the affect the simple sight of him had on her as it began to beat at a much more rapid pace.

"Hey, Rachel," Puck stood up a little straighter, towering over her tiny frame as she approached him, her nearness causing his own pulse to quicken. He opened his mouth to continue speaking, but seeing her huge brown eyes staring back into his made him forget what he wanted to say for a minute and made him think only of all the dirty things he wanted to do to her.

"Um, Noah, why are you standing in front of my car right now?" Rachel shifted uncomfortably under his intense gaze, feeling almost invaded by his eyes but unable to look away. Her words caused Puck to snap out of his trance and remember the real reason he'd been stalkerishly waiting by Rachel Berry's car.

"You've been avoiding me, Berry. Ever since I kissed you at Finn's house you've been running away from me and making sure we're never in the same place for more than two seconds. Now, it can't possibly be because I'm a bad kisser because if I remember correctly, you seemed to enjoy it as much as I did," Puck smirked down at her and moved a step closer.

"You are so infuriating!" Rachel spat at him. "I would greatly appreciate if you would move out of my way so I can get into my vehicle. And it really doesn't make sense why _you_ would care that _I've_ been avoiding you. You barely know me and probably have hundreds of other females who would be happy to provide you with their undivided attention." Rachel sneered as she began to push past Puck toward her car door. Puck whirled around right as she got past him and placed one hand against her car door on either side of her, trapping her between himself and the car.

"That's probably true but I don't want undivided attention from those hundreds of other females," he said, moving closer to her. She was still trying to avoid his gaze but he could see that his moving so close to her flustered her as her breathing sped up.

"I find that incredibly difficult to believe," Rachel tried to keep her cool, still avoiding his gaze. Puck noticed.

"Do I make you nervous, Berry?" he smirked as he took her chin and turned it so she had no choice but to make eye contact with him. His eyes were dark and weirdly intense, and Rachel didn't know how to react. Nobody, not even her ex, had looked at her that way before.

"Please do not flatter yourself with the thought that you make me the least bit nervous," Rachel pushed his hand away from her face, holding his gaze even though she felt as if her heart was going to beat so hard it would fly out of her chest. "I simply would like to know exactly why you're standing here right now considering you have not said one thing of value."

Puck looked down into her huge brown eyes, again finding himself speechless. Shit, Puck was never speechless, especially not because of some dumb chick. He tried to think of something to say to her but realized that he really couldn't answer her questions as to why he was standing there. Rachel began to look more and more impatient as seconds of silence passed. Like he had that night at Finn's house, Puck opened his mouth to talk but nothing came out. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"This is ridiculous, Noah. You think this is funny but it's so incredibly immature I can't even believe it," Rachel started to turn away from him but felt Puck's hand grabbing her arm, jerking her around to face him again. She confusedly turned to see his intense eyes boring holes into hers.

"You know what Rachel, I don't fucking know why I'm here right now but I haven't been able to get you out of my fucking head since the second I saw you. God damnit and you keep avoiding me and –" Puck was cut off by the feeling of her lips crashing against his. Rachel didn't know what the hell she was thinking or doing but before she knew it she kissed him and he was grabbing her waist and pulling her closer into him. One of his hands moved to cup her cheek as his tongue played at her lips and no sooner than she allowed him to deepen their kiss, she stiffened in his grasp and pulled away.

"I'm sorry," Rachel looked up at him, confusion filling his eyes. She turned to get in her car but this time Puck was quicker after she pulled away this time and grabbed her shoulders.

"Shit, Rachel, stop saying that! You just kissed me if you remember correctly so a little explanation as to why you pulled away from me AGAIN would be nice," he said angrily while staring into her huge eyes that looked a mixture of confusion and surprise at his angry reaction.

"I…I don't know, Noah…you just…I mean…you scare me. Well no, not you specifically but…I don't know," Rachel looked down, sheepish that she couldn't come up with a full sentence based on the presence of his hands on her skin and the intensity of his anger with her avoiding and pulling away from him. Wasn't he supposed to be the biggest player in the senior class at McKinley? Though she had to take what Santana said with a grain of salt she did say he specialized in "bang n' bail" and she assumed she was his latest conquest. But why after a month would he still be after her? Why couldn't she just have come to Lima and joined the cheerios and met a normal guy without a reputation? Thoughts about what the hell was going on with her life were flying through her head during the very loud silence following her disjointed answer to his probing question.

"Damnit, Rachel," he said through gritted teeth without letting go of his grip on her shoulders, "I never do this shit, I never even give a shit about chicks. I cant even remember your blonde friend's fucking name but fuck me hard ever since I first saw you I cant get you out of my fucking head and you kissing me and fucking avoiding me isn't helping god damnit!"

Rachel bit her lip as she stared up at Puck, who himself was incredibly shocked at what just came out of his mouth.

"Noah, I have quite a difficult time believing that you, as you so eloquently put it, 'never do this shit,'" Rachel tried to pull herself together and ignore the intensity of his words and how much his staring at her was affecting her heart rate. "Also, while yes, I did just kiss you and I suppose it is fair to say I find you to be an attractive individual, it is just not a good idea for me to get involved with you or anyone right now so I'd greatly appreciate it if you would let go of my shoulders and let me get in my car." She took a deep breath to steady herself as Puck slowly let go of her with a strange look that seemed a cross between shock and confusion. His mouth hung half open as he stepped backwards and watched Rachel turn around and get in her car. He turned around to head to his truck, shaking his head and wondering what the fuck was going on with the fucking mixed signals this chick was sending him.

"Fucking broads," Puck yelled as he got in his truck and slammed the door. He was about to pull away when someone knocked on his window. He jumped half a mile and quickly became disgusted when he saw Santana's face glaring at him. "What the fuck, Satan," he said as he opened his window a crack. "Go the fuck away and leave me alone."

"Puck, open this window all the way! We need to have a talk!" Santana tapped her badly manicured nail on his window while Puck rolled his eyes.

"Mother fuck, I need a beer. What do want, psycho?" Puck poised his foot over the gas pedal so he could make his quick exit about 10 seconds after her pointless rambling started.

"Well, you idiot, I just wanted to inform you that trying to hit on Rachel all the time is NOT making me jealous! Because you and I both know that this little act you put on is all bullshit and you totally want me," Santana looked at him with a haughty expression on her face. For the second time in five minutes Pucks jaw hung open, but this time instead of getting mad he burst out laughing.

"You are seriously fucking delusional," Puck hit the gas and drove away from Santana and wondered when the fuck she was going to leave him alone. The last thing he needed was her psycho ass stalking him and another bullshit fucking pregnancy.

A few hours later, Quinn and Brittany were sitting on Rachel's bed while she paced around her room telling them about what happened earlier with Puck.

"-and I don't know, he's just so infuriating!" Rachel finished. Quinn opened her mouth to start talking but Rachel started again before she could get a word out. "I mean, of course I'm attracted to him but I am definitely not going to let him use me and treat me like one of his stupid conquests." Rachel walked over to her mirror and busied herself with brushing her hair so she didn't have to see the look she knew Quinn and Brittany were exchanging.

"Rach, I don't really know Puck too well, but I know enough to know that something's different with the way he is with you…I mean come on, it's been a month, you've barely given him the time of day, and he's still coming after you," Quinn tried to reassure her friend.

"Yeah, I mean look how mean he is to Santana. That's how Puck usually treats girls. Well, he's meaner to Santana because she's a nutcase who pretends to be pregnant. You know one of these days she actually will get pregnant and nobody will believe her. Its like, the girl who cried baby," Brittany offered, making Quinn and Rachel laugh.

"But really, Rachel, what's going on?" Quinn wondered. "There has to be something eating at you besides Puck's reputation, I mean we've told you a ton that he's obsessing over you."

"I don't know, Q, I guess part of it is that I just moved here and just broke up with my boyfriend from my old home and…well…I guess I wasn't totally honest with you guys when I told you about him at first." Rachel sat down on her bed with the two girls whose faces suddenly expressed worry and confusion. "He was on the football team, go figure, and, well, I really liked him…I found out we were moving here last March, and I told him right away. He acted all sad and kept saying he wanted to stay together and that he would miss me so much and…and he told me he loved me. About a month before we moved, we had sex for the first time. Then right after that…" Rachel stopped for a minute and tried to hold back tears, "after that he basically stopped talking to me. Wouldn't return my calls or texts, never called or texted me, acted distant at parties and when we were with friends, and started sleeping with other girls and hanging all over them in front of me. I was devastated, I mean he told me he loved me. And I don't know, I guess even though I'm in a new place with new people, I still think about it all the time and I cant help but think all this attention from Noah is short lived and all he wants to do is tell me what I want to hear and then kick me to the curb like my stupid ex-boyfriend."

"Oh my gosh, Rachel, I had no idea! What a total asshole. If his stupid ass ever ends up in Lima I will personally ensure that his balls get ripped off and my foot goes right up his ass!" Quinn put her arm around Rachel and tried to comfort her.

"Yeah, I totally bet Puck would kick his ass halfway back to Chicago," Brittany chimed in, receiving a death glare from Quinn.

"Um, Britt, I'm pretty sure the last thing Rachel wants to hear about is Puck right now!" Quinn admonished her sometimes-ditzy friend.

"No, Quinn, its exactly what she needs to hear! Rach, remember that party at Finn's house the first day we met you? Well, I totally overheard Puck yell at Karofsky and tell him to stay away from you or else he'd kick his ass. And that was only because he said he thought you were hot. Imagine if he knew what your ex did to you. That guy would, like, totally be dead." Quinn and Rachel stared blankly at Brittany.

"Wait, how did you overhear that?" Rachel asked, wiping away her tears now that she was much more interested in what Brittany had to say.

"Well, I didn't. Mike told me. But still! Rachel, I think that you should stop worrying and give him a chance. He likes you. You like him. So stop being such a worry wart and talk to him!" Brittany exclaimed with a roll of her eyes and a light punch to Rachel's shoulder.

"Wow, Britt, that's the most intelligent I've ever heard you sound!" Quinn looked at her friend and smiled. "Maybe you should go into relationship counseling! And she's right you know," she turned her gaze to the brunette. "Your ex sucked, totally, but you can't blame other guys for what one did to you. And seriously, you will totally be a legend if you can make Noah Puckerman settle down. Actually, I'm pretty sure you already are considering Finn told me that Puck totally hasn't slept with or even really hit on any girls since he met you."

"Quinn, I'm pretty sure you just set the world record for amount of times the word totally is said in a sentence," Rachel laughed, "but I guess you're right. Maybe I'll talk to him or something."

"Good. Now can we PLEASE go to the mall? School starts in like 5 days and not to mention we need outfits for the night before school! " Brittany jumped up from Rachel's bed and stared expectantly at her friends.

"Wait, what's the night before school?" Rachel looked confused. "and why do we need new outfits for it?"

"Oh I forgot you wouldn't know about that!" Quinn answered. "It's tradition that the cheerleaders always get together the night before school starts. We all dress up and have cocktails and do fun girl stuff before football season starts and all the parties we go to are full of football players who think they're the shit because they won a stupid game," Quinn stood up to gather her things and Rachel and Brittany began to do the same.

"Football players…they don't…show up to this cheerleading get together, do they?" Rachel bit her lip as she put her cell phone in her purse.

"If you're asking if Puck will show up that night, that's a no," Quinn laughed at her nervous friend.

"Yeah, the guys do their own thing that night. Everyone shows up to the first day of school totally hungover, its awesome!" Brittany was practically running out of Rachel's bedroom, anxious to get to the mall.

"Actually Britt, you and Santana were the only ones to show up to school hungover last year," Quinn shook her head and reassured Rachel, whose already large eyes grew even larger upon hearing she had to go to school hungover. Rachel couldn't even get out of bed when she was super hungover, let alone go to her first day of school in a new place.

"Oh. You're right. Santana made me drink the same amount as her because she thought if she got hammered and went to Puck's house, he'd let her stay over and take her to school in the morning. Instead he threw empty beer bottles at her until she ran down the block." Brittany said matter-of-factly. "Now lets go!" She ran out of Rachel's room and down the hallway and stairs, yelling for the other girls to follow her. Rachel sighed heavily as she followed the girls and tried to act as excited as her two blonde friends for the coming days and stop thinking about the boy from her old home who broke her heart and the boy from her new one who wouldn't seem to leave her alone.

**dont own anything of course...next up, what happens when school finally starts?**


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